The present invention relates to a cooling device which is used to protect noncancerous regions during heat therapy treatment, called hyperthermic treatment, in which a cancerous region of a human is heated to 41-43.degree. C. with heat producing microwaves to destroy the cancerous cells.
Conventional heat therapy for cancer of this kind is illustrated in FIG. 1, in which a heater such as a microwave antenna 2 is disposed on human epithelial tissue 1 to heat the cancerous region 4 of the cancerous organ 3 located deep in the human body up to temperatures of 41-43.degree. C. The temperature in cancerous region 4 can be effectively measured with an apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 151,848 entitled "Temperature Detecting Apparatus".
Unfortunately, in such therapy, the density of electromagnetic waves is highest just below the antenna 2, and the temperature in the region 4 should be kept constant. Therefore, the epithelial tissue 1 is higher in temperature than the cancerous region 4. Consequently, in the case of a relatively small cancerous region 4, this difficulty can be overcome by limiting the heat energy to a relatively low level. However, when the cancerous region 4 is large, it generally cannot be effectively cured.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cooling device which is free from the foregoing shortcomings with the prior art, and which cools and protects noncancerous regions without decreasing the heating efficiency for effectively curing a cancerous tumor using microwave heating. This object is achieved in accordance with the present invention by constructing a cooling device for heat therapy for cancer such that the cooling device is disposed between a heater and a cancerous region to be cured and is provided with at least one tube through which a refrigerant is circulated, the tube consisting of a porous fluorocarbon resin having interconnecting pores.